Glendale has grown dramatically in the last few decades and, as a matter of city policy, seems to have few limits on what sort of project can be built where and with what repercussions. From the ubiquitous apartment buildings that dot the neighborhoods of predominantly single family houses, to the pair of giant malls that exist side-by-side in the center of city, Glendale’s urban planning for years has favored wiping swaths of small structures clean to make way for larger commercial projects. Whether this is a triumph or a travesty depends on your point of view.

The evolution of Glendale’s downtown area from typical turn-of-the-century residences to bustling commercial district is most evident in a five block stretch of Central Avenue. The photos below illustrate this trajectory of development from modest houses to apartment and office buildings, then to department stores, followed by a giant indoor mall, and culminating in a mega-outdoor mall that typifies early 21st century retail development in Southern California.

Central Ave. was home to mostly Craftsman bungalows at the turn of the last century. This undated photo was taken on Central at California looking north. As the area started to commercialize, the white Craftsman house across California was eventually replaced by a gas station some time in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s. The houses behind it were eventually replaced with an apartment building. Now, the site is an empty lot. The wall in the foreground belongs to Sears.

1932. Half a block south. The left picture shows not only snow on the ground but the apartment building has replaced the houses in the distance. The Sears would eventually replace these houses three years later. I found an image of the store from nearly the same angle and overlayed it, but there are two possible ways to line the lamp posts up, so both versions are here. In either case, the change from Craftsman residential to Streamline Moderne retail is dramatic.

The apartment building in the 1932 photo above being demolished in 2008. The abandoned gas station is where the white Craftsman once stood.

What’s planned for the corner.

The empty lot in the lower left corner that’s there now. That’s why I snapped the photo. There’s nothing else of interest in this picture.

Back to Sears…

Coincidentally, the old Sears advertising slogan “Come to Sears Brand Central” has a special meaning in Glendale, as this Sears is situated between Brand Blvd. and Central Ave. Completed in 1935, this was the first Sears store in the world to be custom-built as such. Up until that point, Sears-Roebuck had taken over existing structures.

Very little of the original interior exists, and the exterior was extensively and poorly remodeled some time in the 70’s or 80’s. Notice how the house on the right had been repurposed as a clinic by the 30’s. Though the structure is long gone, a medical clinic still occupies the lot just south of the Sears today.

Looking south at the Sears in the 1940’s

The lamp posts are still there, now with ficus trees along the sidewalk. The high resolution photo shows the sign for a malt shop in the building on the near right (razed a few years ago to build a 6-story mixed use development and is still a vacant lot).

In the distance on the right is the art deco “Professional Building” at 229 N. Central. I haven’t been able to find any formal documentation on the place, but years ago I was treated to some history from a longtime tenant, the late Dr. Sol Balkin whose podiatry practice was there for decades. According to Dr. Balkin, when built, the Professional Building was one of the tallest buildings in the city, and one of the first such buildings solely for medical offices in the area. These days, it only houses only one or two doctors, the rest of the tenants being other businesses. When Dr. Balkin first started working there, he used to chat with the elderly man who owned the (long gone) house next door, who in turn recalled that people rode horse carriages up to the building when it was new, alongside the cars. Dr. Lawrence Craven, who in 1948 anecdotally observed that his patients who were taking aspirin suffered fewer heart attacks, housed his practice in the building. It would be decades before Dr. Craven’s recommendation of an aspirin a day would gain wide acceptance, but today his work is commemorated by a plaque at Glendale Memorial Hospital.

Looking north on Central at Salem. Notice in the top picture how the right-most house the old white Craftsman, only in its original color. The second picture shows larger trees and the house has been painted white. The third picture is present day, the Professional Building in the foreground.

Several city blocks of old buildings, small strip malls, and industrial facilities were replaced with the Americana at Brand. It’s ironic that a whole chunk of operating city would be removed and rebuilt as a “Main Street USA” mixed-use shopping center.

In researching where exactly this was, I couldn’t search this intersection in Google maps because Harvard no longer crosses Central. The block west of Central was first taken over by the Galleria, and the rest wiped off the map when Harvard became the entrance to the Americana parking garage.

The Glendale Galleria straddles Central Avenue.

Two aerial views of the area shot eight years apart. In 1929, the Professional Building is there, but not much else. In 1937, the Sears is by far the largest building on Central. Today, it’s dwarfed by the neighboring malls.

Satellite view of Glendale’s central core. They say there are two structures that can be seen from outer space: the Great Wall of China and the Galleria (The Great Mall of Glendale).

For those who can’t get enough of Bunker Hill the way it used to be, Bunker Hill 1956 has just been posted to vimeo.

The 17-minute film was a project by students at USC Film School, directed by Kent MacKenzie, who went on to direct The Exiles, a feature about Native Americans living on Bunker Hill. As with the series of stunning color photographs mentioned here before, those documenting the neighborhood for this film knew that its days were numbered. In this case, the focus is on the pensioners living there and what was to become of them. As one longtime resident says of the Community Redevelopment Agency’s plan:

Their method of going about it is to not only clear the slums but clear all the people out of the area, and rebeautify the whole thing, rebuild and put an opera house up here. Make a picture area out of it, without keeping the inhabitants in mind at all.

The film vividly captures the fabric of the area, the rich textures of a drug store, a shoemaker’s shop, meager apartments, and everyday street scenes. And there are great shots of Angels’ Flight (in its original form) and the Grand Central Market.

Of course, all of those places are actually at the same location: Pasadena City Hall. And thanks to the city’s Public Information Officer Ann Erdman, we got an up-close VIP tour, along with several new-found friends in the Pasadena blogosphere. Let’s go inside.

Ann tells the storied tale of Pasadena’s history and the architectural significance of the building.

Some of the rich architectural details, including the Pasadena seal of a crown and key (a compromise stemming from a disagreement among the city’s founders as to whether “Pasadena” meant “Crown of the Valley” or “Key of the Valley” in Chippewa). There are also bands of fruit symbolizing abundance, lions representing strength, and the strange face of a man with a walrus mustache.

Pasadena’s newest city council members. Kevin thinks it’s a wonder that the City Council can stay awake during meetings, knowing first hand how comfy their leather chairs are.

Thanks, Ann, for a great afternoon!

By the way, Rumor Has It is set in Pasadena and includes a veritable tour of Pasadena’s landmarks. But in no way is it worth watching. I recommend the original Graduate instead.

Yesterday was the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and it was a wonderful event. There was plenty of fantastic free music and it looked like the event did a lot to continue the revitalization of South Pas’s beautiful central business district. As a salute to one of my favorite cities, here are some images of Pasadena’s small neighbor to the south:

South Pasadena Bank, now Kaldi Coffee Shop at 1019 El Centro Street. This and other area banks were founded by George W. E. Griffith, who relocated from Kansas to the Highland Park neighborhood of LA in 1900. The photo was taken c. 1907. The building was built in 1904 and was the first bank building in South Pas. It held the city’s offices from 1908 until 1914 when the town finished its city hall. Kaldi has been used as a location for several TV shows and movies, recently including Brothers & Sisters and a great episode of Modern Family.

First National Bank at Fair Oaks and Mission St. Notice how all of the overhead power and phone lines have been moved underground? The photo on the left appears to have been taken when it was about to open, as there is a man lifting a door into place. Either that or he’s robbing the joint. The image is dated 1922, and the original caption states that Security First National Bank later occupied this location at 824 Fair Oaks. The building underwent a renovation in what I think was the 1940’s, and was Gandell’s Furniture when I lived in South Pas (lower image). It is currently being remodeled again and some of the historical detailing that had been covered up is now being restored. Its original use will also be restored—ComericA bank is moving in to the location.

The view north on Fair Oaks, 1936. The row of attractive buildings on the left including a liquor store, Ford dealership, and drug store have been replaced by the parking lots for Pavillions and Vons. The Masonic Temple on the right side of the street is still there, along with the adjacent structures. The site of the Chevron gas station is still occupied by a gas station, only now a 76. The most striking difference is the absence of the Red Car tracks down the middle of the street, which ran from Oneonta Junction at Huntington (behind us) up through Pasadena. The Northern District passenger service was discontinued September 30, 1951.

The Lucretia R. Garfield House. The house was designed by Greene and Greene for the widow of James Garfield, the U. S. President who was assassinated in 1881. Lucretia Garfield was a distant relative of the Greenes, and they made many compromises on the design in deference to her active involvement with the project. The house was completed in 1904. She died March 14, 1918.

Bonus (as seen on TV!):

Just a few doors down from the Garfield House is a filming location for Brothers & Sisters. This is Sarah Walker’s house as seen in Season 4 Episode 17 “Freeluc.com.” I’m pretty sure this is not the place that was previously used for exterior establishing shots of Sarah’s house.

(Photos from the LA Public Library, South Pasadena Public Library, Google Street View)